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Storm Surge Maps Will Warn Coastal Residents of Potential Deadly Floods

The National Hurricane Center is stepping up its warnings about storm surge and will start publishing maps this summer that show where tropical storms are likely to cause flooding along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Storm surge color maps will perform the same warning function as the center’s traditional hurricane maps, which President Trump famously […]

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Post-Traumatic Growth: Finding Meaning and Creativity in Adversity

“In some ways suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning.” —Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning Kintsugi is a centuries-old Japanese art of fixing cracked pottery. Rather than hide the cracks, the technique involves rejoining the broken pieces with lacquer mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. When put back together, […]

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The Stars Could Help Unify Us

As an astronomer, I am accustomed to observing the cosmos in quiet places. But since the start of self-isolation, it’s so quiet that my own heartbeat is the only background noise. I observe galaxies in the deep universe, in places so far away that their light takes billions of years to reach our eyes. I […]

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COVID-19: Potential Implications for Individuals with Substance Use Disorders

As people across the U.S. and the rest of the world contend with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the research community should be alert to the possibility that it could hit some populations with substance use disorders particularly hard. Because it attacks the lungs, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 could be an especially serious threat to […]

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Will COVID-19 Make Us More Socialist?

Last month, an eternity in COVID-19 time, I indulged in some wishful thinking. I predicted that the virus would lead to a resurgence of progressivism, in which the U.S. moves away from militarism and predatory capitalism and toward a greener, more socialist style of governance. The system I have in mind would be fully democratic, unlike […]